Want to Build a Family History Legacy Book

The Family History Writing Challenge Returns!

The Family History Writing Challenge

28 Days of Motivation, Education and Tools

A 28-Day Commitment to Writing Your Family HistoryFeb 1st - Feb 28th

Why should I sign up?

Because you have a passion to turn those dry documents into exciting stories about your ancestors. You've procrastinated too long and it's time to take up the challenge. Stop procrastinating; finally commit pen to paper or fingers to keyboard. Assemble those family facts into a format someone will want to read.

Have you been writing sporadically never finishing a story?

Have you procrastinated writing your stories for too long?

Do you need that nudge to finish your stories and finially publish?

The challenge will help you create some good consistent writing habits with support from industry professionals. Stop starting and stalling, stop procrastinating, make 2013 the year you meet head on your family history writing goals.

Whom Do I Write About?

A single ancestor, a surname, a branch of your tree, you pick.

You select the ancestor or ancestors, the timeframe, just keep in mind who you feel most prepared to write about in terms of research and interest, and who are you most motivated to write about. You can write your stories in the form of family history blog posts, a family history memoir, narrative stories for a legacy book or as a personal journal.

How Much Do I Need to Write?

You pick the amount 250, 500, 1000 words a day whatever you can work into your schedule. Do the math.

250 words x 28 days = 7000 words, you would be well on your way!

500 words x 28 days = 14,000 words, this would be an incredible start!

1000 words x 28 days = 28,000 words, you would be a hero!

Where Do I Write?

Write on your computer, ipad, typewriter, longhand (tough to do word count). Write in your office, at the kitchen table, the local coffee shop, the lawn chair (if your someplace sunny- lucky you), or beside a roaring fire (that would be me).

What If It’s Not Good Enough?

This exercise is not about quality. Very few of us can sit down and shoot out a masterpiece on the first draft. Newsbreak..... most of us take a half dozen passes at it before it is worthy of anyone else’s eyes. This is about making a start, it's about creating a habit. There will be plenty of time to edit your masterpiece later, committing to the daily word count is a huge step to making it happen. Besides we have some published authors, editors and professional instructors on board to help you along the way.

When Does it Begin?

The Family History Writing Challenge begins Feb 1st and ends February 28th. I am asking you to commit 28 days to writing your family history, in the hopes that you will get a running start and you will never look back. You'll create daily writing habits that I hope will stay with you long after the challenge is over.

Where Do I Sign Up?

Right here, leave your pledge in comments or link to your own blog post, no goal is official until you have written it down and shared it. Once you verbalize, you become more committed. If you prefer to keep it to yourself that's ok too. I realize some of you are shy, writers by nature are introverts, we appreciate that here. You don't need to share your writing unless you want to. You can sit quietly back and take all the information in, but of course if you participate we will be thrilled.

Be sure to sign up for the Family History Writing Challenge daily email. Each day you’ll receive a motivational message from me, along with a few tips, informative posts and some great instructional posts from our guest authors. By signing for the daily reminders you’ll be sure not to miss a thing, in fact you'll have it long before everyone else. Those on the email list have special privileges including some tangible tools that will only be available to those who have signed up for the challenge.

Why a Public Challenge?

Because there's nothing like publicly announcing your intentions with a deadline to motivate. One of primary reasons so many never start or finish their goals is lack of accountability.

Secondly a public challenge brings the family history writers community together. We can share our wealth of knowledge to help elevate everyone in their journey. If you really want to share and get opinions you can get verbal and ask for specific help by joining the Family History Writing Forum. I'll be checking in daily and some of our guest authors will also be stopping by.

If you signed up last year and plan on participating again no need to sign up for the email again, you're already in and watch for our first email starting next week. But hey give a shout out in the comments just to make sure you've been heard.

What is stopping you from starting your writing? Let me know, and I will try to help you overcome those obstacles. Meanwhile, you have the next 3 weeks to get yourself organized to start writing. There will be some early emails to help you get organized and started. Don't miss out on those. You can also review some of the posts from last year here on the blog.

Write your familyhistory in 28 days, are you ready to take the challenge?

I participated last year and wish to do so again. When i go to sign in re this year, the message is that i am already a member. How do tI ensure i get the daily, tips, motivators, etc. I am definitely in!

I'm back this year with a passion. Since we just moved in November and my office isn't completely unpacked yet, this is my motivation to find the file boxes with the books, journals, notes and documents I need to do this year's challenge. I will be writing the second book of the series, which is actually the one my husband's 1st cousin 1x removed...the Carter who was on the very FIRST family reunion committee...had challenged me to write. THIS story ties it all together.

I'd like to try this. My goal is to write up what I've learned so far about my husband's grandmother's family. At a minimum, trying to put it into a coherent narrative should help me think about what to research next.

Alright, I'm in. What better way to get those notes I wrote when I couldn't sleep last week into a full fledged story. 250 words a day, for a month, I can handle that. A newbie has to start somewhere! I can't promise I'll share everything, but when I do, it'll be at my blog, http://polkaroo00.blogspot.com.

Glad I came across this challenge. I’m in. I’ve never needed a push to start writing, I’d do it all day if I could. My challenge is to write without it taking over my life. So, I pledge to write 250 words a day and ONLY 250 words. This challenge is a good way for me to learn to blend writing and life together without getting swallowed up in the task and loosing sight of everything else.

I'm in with a modest pledge of only 250 words per day. These will be inspired by readings from a 1899 Diary. Those worthy of the ink will be posted on my blog atticsandoldlace.blogspot.com & on Saturdays I hope to link them to the Sepia Saturday post.

Now to get caught up on my work before the end of January and the start of the challenge.

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